The Jessica Chastain horror "Other Mommy” topped the North American box office this weekend with a bigger audience than expected, while "The Social Reckoning” got off to a lackluster start.
"Other Mommy,” released by Universal Pictures, earned $27.5 million in its first few days in 3,365 theaters, according to studio estimates on Sunday. The movie, about a sinister supernatural creature that terrorizes a young girl who thinks it's her mother, got dismal reviews from both critics and audiences. It also joins the ranks of "Megalopolis” and "Hereditary” with a D CinemaScore.
But with a production budget of around $19 million, it’s also another win for the horror genre and producer Blumhouse Atomic Monster, which was behind "Backrooms” and "Obsession.” "Other Mommy” opened in 50 international markets as well, boosting its global debut to $45.2 million.
Jim Orr, Universal's head of domestic distribution, noted that the audience gender divide was evenly split and about 2/3 were between 18 and 34 years old.
"No matter how you look at it, everybody turned out for it. It wasn’t just one particular demographic,” Orr said. "That usually is a very good sign.”
"The Social Reckoning,” the weekend’s other big release, was not as lucky, earning an estimated $5.5 million from 2,606 North American theaters. Aaron Sorkin wrote and directed the film about a Facebook whistleblower who leaked incriminating documents to a Wall Street Journal reporter.
Sixteen years ago, "The Social Network,” which Sorkin wrote and David Fincher directed, opened to over $22 million and went on to gross over $224 million worldwide, receiving eight Oscar nominations and winning three. A similar fate might be a stretch for "The Social Reckoning,” which stars Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong and received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics. Audiences gave it a B- CinemaScore. According to reports, the Sony Pictures release cost around $30 million to produce, not accounting for marketing and promotion.
Paul Dergarabedian, Rentrak’s head of marketplace trends, said October is a time when studios take chances and it doesn’t always work out.
"These movies that are topical in nature, sometimes they resonate with the culture, sometimes they don’t,” said Dergarabedian. "You don’t always know what’s going to connect with audiences.”
He compared "The Social Reckoning” to "Digger,” which fell 60% in its second weekend .
"The Social Reckoning” opened behind several holdovers as well. The Anne Hathaway psychological thriller "Verity” took second place with $11.5 million, down 64% from its opening weekend. In third place, "Resident Evil” added $8.4 million, bringing its domestic total to $138.5 million. The Brad Pitt survival thriller "Heart of the Beast” took fourth with $7.1 million.
Christopher Nolan’s "The Odyssey” also made an encore appearance in the top 10 in its 13th weekend in theaters where it was back in 12 IMAX 70 mm locations. It added $2 million from 560 North American theaters, bringing its domestic total just shy of $623 million.
Several high-profile films opened in limited release this weekend as well. The Cannes Palme d’Or winner "Fjord” debuted on four screens this weekend where it made $124,000. Alex Gibney’s Elon Musk documentary "Musk,” which runs nearly four hours, made $68,900 from four locations. And Chris Rock’s "Misty Green” made $85,716 from six locations through Sunday.
The annual domestic box office crossed the $8 billion mark on Friday and is up over 19% from last year. According to Rentrak, that’s about 8% behind 2019.